Author: TechBrunch

The world of fashion is changing at a faster pace every year. Most retailers introduce new styles every season, and fast fashion companies like Shein, H&M, and Zara continually update their collections. To keep up with the rapid demand for new styles, brands and manufacturers are turning to technology to accelerate the design process. Raspberry AI, a two-year-old startup, helps designers develop products faster by allowing them to visualize and iterate on ideas almost instantly using a text-to-image platform. It is one of the technological solutions. Cheryl Liu, the founder of Rasberry, was a private equity analyst specializing in retail…

Price Iebesi, 24, already has one way out. He is selling his cryptocurrency billing company, Utopia Labs, to Coinbase for an undisclosed amount. Some founders don't just have one company. Yebesi on Monday announced the launch of Open Ledger, a new company that will integrate automated accounting software into products that businesses and small businesses already use. He has already raised $3 million in a round led by Kindred Ventures. Yebesi said he came up with Open Ledger while still serving as chief product officer at Utopia Labs. He said he noticed that the companies he worked with were still…

With one week left in his term, President Joe Biden has introduced new guidelines and restrictions on the export of U.S.-made AI chips. On Monday, the administration released an interim final rule on AI proliferation. The ruling aims to “clarify how allies and partners can benefit from AI” and streamline licensing hurdles for chip orders, according to a White House press release. However, these rules also introduce new chip sales restrictions in the majority of countries around the world. These new guidelines divide countries into three groups, CNN reports. The first group includes the United States' strongest allies, such as…

With TikTok facing a looming shutdown on January 19th over its U.S. ownership (unless the Supreme Court intervenes), another Chinese app appears to be gaining traction. US users are flocking to the Chinese short video app Xiaohongshu (known in English as RedNote). The app rocketed to the number one free app spot on the US App Store today. It is also the top social networking app among all free iPhone apps. Some TikTok creators are promoting Xiaohongshu on their accounts and encouraging followers to migrate to the platform. Influencers may not have a crystal ball to predict whether TikTok will…

With TikTok facing a looming shutdown on January 19th over its U.S. ownership (unless the Supreme Court intervenes), another Chinese app appears to be gaining traction. US users are flocking to the Chinese short video app Xiaohongshu (known in English as RedNote). The app has rocketed to the number one spot among free apps on the US App Store today. It is also the top social networking app among all free iPhone apps. Some TikTok creators are promoting Xiaohongshu on their accounts and encouraging followers to migrate to the platform. Influencers may not have a crystal ball to predict whether…

Financial services firm Moody's announced Monday that it has agreed to acquire geospatial AI startup Cape Analytics for an undisclosed sum. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter, subject to customary closing conditions, and will provide Moody's access to Cape's geospatial AI analytics technology in its underwriting operations. Moody's CEO Rob Fauver said the company plans to use the technology to build a real estate database that can provide “address-specific” risk insights to insurance customers. Cape's withdrawal comes as the insurance industry ramps up its adoption of AI and predictive analytics technologies. A 2024 study by insurance…

E-commerce giant eBay has announced plans to acquire Caramel, a startup that helps car sellers and buyers complete the final stages of a transaction, including verification, financing, documentation, title transfer, insurance, and more. As eBay has grown over the years, it has had to evolve to stay competitive. For example, the company last year eliminated sales commissions in the UK to combat a new wave of marketplace startups. Specifically in the automotive space, eBay has acquired several startups to stay ahead of the curve, including advertising and marketing technology company Cargigi and British classifieds site Motors.co.uk. Last month, eBay's archrival…

Float Financial, an expense management and corporate cards startup focused on the Canadian market, has raised $48.5 million in a Series B funding round. The Toronto-based fintech company likens itself to U.S.-based fintech giants Brex and Lamp, but says it's different in that it focuses exclusively on Canadian small and medium-sized businesses. “Canada's banking monopoly and strict policies have caused it to be overlooked,” said co-founder Rob Kazam. economic situation. ” Goldman Sachs Growth Equity led the funding, with participation from OMERS Ventures, FJ Labs, Teralys, and existing investor Garage Capital. This raise brings Float Financial's total venture funding to…

A hack and data breach at location data broker Gravy Analytics threatens the privacy of millions of people around the world, with smartphone apps disclosing location information collected by the data giant. It will be published soon. Although the full scale of the data breach is not yet clear, the alleged hackers have already collected large amounts of location data from major consumer phone apps, including fitness, health, dating, and transportation apps, as well as popular games. A large sample has been published. This data represents tens of millions of location data points that show where people have been, where…

Nominet, the UK domain registry that manages the .co.uk domain, has confirmed that it has experienced a cybersecurity incident that is related to the recent exploitation of a new Ivanti VPN vulnerability. In an email to customers seen by TechCrunch, Nominet warned of an “ongoing security incident” that it was investigating. Nominet said the hackers accessed its systems through “third-party VPN software provided by Ivanti,” adding that the intrusion “exploited a zero-day vulnerability,” leaving Nominet with no time to patch it. . Ivanti acknowledged last week that hackers were exploiting vulnerabilities in Connect Secure, the company's widely used enterprise VPN…